Chapter 7

The morning had started out so promising. When Eitan returned from his morning run, a new habit since Akemi left for college, he learned that his parents had left for a personal day, specifically without the boys. Sten slid into the kitchen, still wiping himself dry from his shower, to announce that Tanisha would be visiting for a good part of the day. Visiting was too loose of a term because the two of them only had one agenda item. Eitan had jumped on the phone to Sammi, hoping against hope that she was feeling better, but she still had a bad cold.

Dr. H told Sten and Eitan when they were in his lab on Wednesday that the Hobart versions of nano deliberately did not prevent a person from getting sick from viruses and bacteria. The body needed to be able to identify and attack foreign invaders; it was a necessary biological tool for survival. The nano was designed to identify efficiently and to attack more effectively using a highly compressed timeframe. The nano human got sick like everyone else but recovered more quickly. Still, Sammi was sick today and Eitan was a lonely teenage boy wandering the fields behind his home.

The fallow field immediately behind his home was used as pasture for the horses at the farm down the road. Beyond the field were woods. Dressed in sweatpants and a shirt, Eitan crossed the empty pasture and clambered over the wood fence, ducking into the woods. Following the faint game trail, he quickly came to his favorite spot, a thick layer of pine needles under a small grove of soaring evergreens. With the canopy far above, the grove felt like a natural cathedral, holy and removed from the rest of the world.

About the time Akemi left for college, Eitan’s new sense began to emerge more forcefully. He could sense living beings within a certain radius. He could seek in a specific direction and know there were rodents and mammals and humans in a narrow band stretching farther than he could see. At first, the sense was oddly disconcerting, causing Eitan to jerk his head around, seeking in one direction or another.

Now he sat in his cathedral and deliberately sought out his house, about a half-mile behind him. He could sense Sten and Tanisha. He also realized that they were going at each other hot and heavy because that is what the sensation felt like. They were generating energy. The greater energy had an added dimension of sense to it as well, pleasant and sweet on his tongue. Rather than marveling in his ability though, Eitan clenched his fist in anger. Why did Sammi have to be sick? Why didn’t he just choose Maggie? It would have been so much easier to get laid.

His body tingled with energy. Frustrated with his circumstances and frustrated with himself, Eitan decided that a long horse ride would be a good distraction. He threw his attention towards the horse barn at the farm. He sensed the six horses milling about the yard or in the barn and then WHAM ... he was there.

A net of energy unfolded from his body, and he stood inside the barn. With a glorious flourish of grace and gravitas, Eitan turned to the side and vomited up his entire breakfast. He spit a few times to get the taste out of mouth. His head ached slightly.

The laundry sink was on the other side. After he washed out his mouth, and wiped down his left shoe, Eitan grabbed the shovel and some hay. He cleaned up his mess and wandered outside to the corral. Everything appeared to be entirely calm, as if nothing strange had just happened.

Something was missing. Racking his brain, Eitan patted his pockets and looked around the corral, hoping some item would jar his memory. First, he realized that no one knew he was at the horse barn, because the only entrance had an infra-red laser that sounded a gong, announcing the arrival of anyone who came through the front gate. Usually, the gong made arrival easier because someone always came to find out who had entered. However, he was still missing something.

He ran back inside the barn, relieved that the building was still empty. He scanned, detecting no thrumming threads of energy nearby. He stared at where he had been standing, and then it hit him: his backpack. He looked every which way, finally concluding that his backpack was still under the pine trees. He needed to retrieve his backpack. Could he cross the fields and slip into the forest undetected? The way back had to be at least two miles. Two miles of mostly open terrain and people were working the fields and he wasn’t supposed to be back there without permission and and and. He broke out in a sweat.

‘How did I do this?’ he asked himself. ‘I thought the horses and I saw the barn in my mind’s eye. I wanted to be in the barn, and wham.’

Eitan fixed the pine trees in his mind. Nothing happened. He reached out with his senses, afraid that the pine trees were no longer there. Then he felt stupid because, of course, the trees were still there. Then he grabbed for them, and WHAM.

He fell on his butt, next to his backpack. As he went down, he felt the energy unpeel itself from his body again. He was naked even though he was wearing his clothes. Eitan grabbed for his backpack and held it for dear life against his chest. He sat there for a long, long time.

Eitan finally stirred himself, taking his time to stretch stiffened muscles. He dug into his backpack and pulled out his cell phone. Akemi did not answer. He called Sten.

“What?” asked the annoyed voice.

“I ... I need help,” Eitan said.

“I’m busy. What kind of help do you need?”

“Nano,” Eitan said in a whisper.

There was silence on the other end. “Where are you?”

“The cathedral,” Eitan said.

“Tanisha and I will be there in fifteen minutes,” Sten said.

“NO! It’s nano,” Eitan said, knowing he was raving. He started crying and then he dropped the phone.

Eitan remembered Sten leading him back to the house, as he babbled about what had happened. When they got inside the house, Sten forcefully yanked the backpack out of Eitan’s arms and pushed him into the cushions on the couch. Eitan heard a clink of a glass and cabinet doors opening behind him. A moment later, Sten thrust a short glass of an amber liquid into his hand.

“Drink,” Sten said, sitting down on the coffee table in front of Eitan. Sten drank the contents of his glass and grimaced. Eitan swallowed his and immediately regretted it as the fiery liquid burned his throat all the way down.

“What the hell did I just drink?” Eitan said, staring at the glass

“Who the hell cares,” Sten said, “As long as it slaps you back down to earth.”

“Nattering knits of nano,” Eitan cursed. “Nebulizing knobs of nefarious noobs.” The babbling fit the moment as far as he was concerned.

“You do realize that when most superheroes get their powers, they celebrate with whoops of joy and high fives of triumph,” Sten said. “They don’t meltdown into blathering bouts of doom.”

“Fantasy,” Eitan said, waving off the suggestion. “Backroom wannabes condemned to excessive bouts of masturbation, as they hide in their parents’ basement and dream of fame. This is reality with real world consequences. I jumped. From here to there, I jumped.”

“It’s pretty fuckin’ cool,” Sten said. “Have another shot.” He poured from the liter bottle into both glasses, and they drank. “The first decision is ‘who do we tell?’ I already sent Akemi a text message, but she is still incommunicado.”

“If we tell Nikki and Joseph, then it’s the same as telling Dr. H,” Eitan said. “At some point we will be compelled to tell him, but I’d rather keep him at arm’s length at this point. He tends to leap without ever asking permission.”

“How are we supposed to keep this from our parents, Eitan? You’re like the worst poker player on the face of the earth. Every muscle in your body is a tell. I can tell you the exact date and identify within the hour of when Sammi and you dropped your clothes and mashed your genitals together. Nikki and Joseph were trading jokes and high-fives about your accomplishment at breakfast. Even Akemi called and demanded to collect on our bet. You can’t hide shit.”